Encyclopedia
Alfred Edmund Brehm was a
German zoologist and writer, the son of
Christian Ludwig Brehm.
Through the book title
Brehms Tierleben, his name became a synonym
for popular zoological literature.
Life
Alfred Brehm was brought up in the small
Thuringian village
Unterrenthendorf as the son of the minister
Christian Ludwig Brehmand his second wife Bertha. Christian Ludwig Brehm made a name for
himself as an ornithologist by publications and an extensive collection
of stuffed birds. The collection, held in the parsonage and
consisting of over 9,000 dead birds, offered a glimpse into the world of
European birds. His father's research gave Brehm an interest in
zoology,
but at first he wanted to become an
architect.
In the spring of 1844 he began to study with a builder in
Altenburg.
He continued his studies there until September 1846, when he left for
Dresden in order to study architecture; however, he stopped after two
semesters because Johann Wilhelm von Müller,
a well-known ornithologist, was looking for a companion for an
African expedition. Brehm joined the
expedition on May 31, 1847 as a secretary and assistant to von Müller.
The expedition took him to
Egypt, the
Sudan, and the
Sinai peninsula;
the discoveries made were so important that, at the age of only 20,
he was made a member of the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina.
After his return, in 1853 he started to study natural sciences at the
University of Jena. Like his brother Reinhold, he became active with the
student corps Saxonia Jena;
because of his expedition to
North Africa, he received the nickname Pharaoh
from his corps brothers. He graduated after four semesters in 1855
and in 1856 went on a two-year journey to
Spain with his brother
Reinhold. Afterwards he settled down in
Leipzig as a freelance writer and
wrote many scientific popularizations for Die Gartenlaube and other
magazines. Apart from this, he undertook an expedition to
Norway and
Laplandin 1860.
In May 1861 Brehm married his cousin Mathilde Reiz,
with whom he had five children. Since he wanted to travel, in 1862 he accepted the invitation of
Duke Ernst II of Saxe-Coburg-Gothato accompany him on a trip to
Abyssinia. Afterwards, Brehm travelled
to
Africa as well as to
Scandinavia and
Siberia. His essays and
expedition
reports from the animal world were well-received by the educated bourgeoisie;
because of this, he was commissioned by
the editor of the
Bibliographisches Institut, Herrmann Julius Meyer,
to write a large multivolume work on the animal world.
This book became known worldwide as
Brehms Tierleben Although Brehm's ethology is no longer seen
as correct, the title of his work is still a catchphrase.
Brehm's life was full with writing, scientific expeditions and lecture tours.
Despite this, in 1862, he accepted the post of
first director of the
Hamburg zoo and kept this
position until 1867. Afterwards he went to
Berlin, where he opened an
aquarium. He remained with the aquarium until 1874. In the
winter of 1883 to 1884 Brehm planned a lecture tour to the
USA.
Shortly before his departure, his four children contracted
diphtheria.
Since he could not afford to break his contract, Brehm, a widower since
1878, went ahead with his tour. At the end of January he received word of
his youngest son's death. After the hardship of this news Brehm relapsed
into
malaria, which he had caught in Africa in his expedition days.
On May 11, 1884, he came back to
Berlin. In order to find peace,
he returned in July to his home town of Renthendorf,
where he died on November 11, 1884. Today, the Brehm Memorial Museum
is located there.
Selected publications
is a reference book, first published in the 1860s,
...
See the article on
Brehms Tierleben for its editions, titles and availability of online text.
- Reiseskizzen aus Nord-Ost-Afrika
- Das Leben der Vögel
- Ergebnisse einer Reise nach Habesch
- Die Thiere des Waldes, with Emil Adolf Rossmässler
- Gefangene Vögel, with Otto Finsch
External links
- Information on and table of contents from the work Merveilles de la nature: les insectes, A. E. Brehm, tr. J. Künckel d'Herculais.
- Includes text from Brehms Thierleben and Tiergeschichten.
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